Iran – Iran has been building replicas of US warships for years - to practise blowing them up - a top Iranian admiral has reportedly said and was reported on the 6 May 14."We have been making and sinking replicas of US destroyers, frigates and warships for many years," says Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. "We practise the same drills on replica aircraft carriers because sinking and destroying US warships has, is and will be on our agenda."The admiral - whose forces patrol the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route - says the US relies on aircraft carriers for overseas aerial attacks, making them a natural target for Iranian forces. His troops now have a good understanding of the "design, construction and structure of the US warships", he says, adding that in the drills the replica vessels can sink in just 50 seconds.In April 14 the Iranians seemed to show a mock nuclear-powered Nimitz-class (CVN 68) aircraft carrier - the largest warship in the world - being built in Iran, along with fake US-style aircraft. The purpose of the replica was not clear at the time, and Iranian media reported the ship would be used on a film set. US officials said they did not believe Iran had the capability to build a real one.361 COMMENT:However, with Iran being a state sponsor of terrorism could these mock up US Navel ships have been used by al-Qaeda in its attempt to bomb the USS The Sullivans in January 2000 which was unsuccessful.But, on the 12 Oct 2000 the USS Cole was successfully bombed by terrorists in Aden, Yemen?361 COMMENT ENDS.Iran/Syria and the West – Western security officials are investigating allegations that Iran supplied Chinese-made bombs filled with chlorine gas to the Syrian regime after satellite images emerged of a Syrian supply flight at Tehran’s main airport it was reported on the 7 May 14.Iran is understood to have ordered 10,000 chlorine canisters from China that, according to reports, have been loaded on to flights to Syria.Western security officials say the Assad regime has established a regular air freight route with Iran using Russian-built Ilyushin 76 Syrian military cargo aircraft.Each flight between Damascus and Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran can carry up to 40 tons of equipment, and the weapons are believed to include short-range missiles, automatic rifles and ammunition.Security officials are now trying to establish whether these flights have been used by Iran to provide the Assad regime with the chlorine bombs used against Syrian opposition fighters in incidents revealed by the British newspaper The Telegraph recently.The Israeli military website Debkafile, which has close ties to Israel’s defence ministry, reported earlier this month that Iran was supplying Syria with the new Chinese-made chlorine bombs that are being used against the rebels. In one attack at Kafr Zita, on the outskirts of Hama, regime loyalists were said to have used Chinese-manufactured chlorine gas canisters rigged with explosive detonators.Western security officials monitoring military activity between Iran and the Assad regime say the new series of arms shipments began on the 28 Jan 14 and have continued on a regular basis ever since, with Syrian heavy lift aircraft flying between Tehran and Damascus several times a week. Iraq – Terrorists launched an audacious attack on a military barracks in a remote area in the country's north and killed 20 troops, including some who had been bound and shot at close range it was reported on the 11 May 14.The killings at the military barracks in the village of Ayn al-Jahish outside of Mosul mirrored two previous assaults earlier this year in the area targeting security forces. It also represents the latest blow to the government's efforts to achieve stability in restive Sunni-dominated areas.Gunmen staged the assault late on the 10 May 14 shooting some at short range while others died fighting the insurgents when they stormed the barracks. A medical official was reported to have stated that 11 troops had their hands tied behind their backs and suffered close-range gunshots to the head.The soldiers were part of the pipeline protection force that sends Iraqi crude oil out of the country.No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, it mirrored a February attack in the area claimed by the al-Qaida-breakaway group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. On that occasion, fighters from the group killed 15 soldiers at the barracks, beheading some of them. In April, militants killed at least 10 soldiers at a base outside of Mosul.Palestine/Egypt – Despite ideological differences, the Palestinian militant group Hamas has forged operational links with Al-Qaeda-inspired Salafist-jihadist groups in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, allowing it to order attacks on Israel without "leaving a fingerprint", Israeli security sources have told IHS Jane's it was reported on the30 Apr 14.In the past, Hamas merely had to give a "hint" to Sinai armed groups for them to understand that an attack on Israel has been requested, but the Egyptian crackdown on the jihadists has made it harder for Hamas to "outsource" terrorism, according to recent Israeli assessments.While Sinai has traditionally been a supply route for weapons entering the Gaza Strip, Egypt's military government now sees the Palestinian territory as a source of arms and fighters who infiltrate into Sinai to support attacks.Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia said on the 6 May 14 that it had uncovered an al Qaeda militant group with links to "extremist elements" in Syria and Yemen that had been plotting to assassinate officials and attack government and foreign targets.The cell comprised 62 members, including 59 Saudi militants, a Yemeni, a Pakistani and a Palestinian.An investigation into social media postings "led security forces after months of hard work to pinpoint suspicious activities that unveiled a terrorist organisation through which the elements of al Qaeda in Yemen were communicating with their counterpart elements in Syria in coordination with a number of misguided (people) at home in various provinces of the kingdom" .Saudi Arabia faced an al Qaeda insurgency from 2003 to 2006 in which militants targeted residential compounds for foreigners and Saudi government facilities, killing dozens of people.Yemen – Unidentified gunmen shot dead an army colonel in his car in Yemen's southern port city of Aden late on the 2 May 14 and two soldiers were injured when a car bomb exploded in another major southern port on the 3 May 14.The attacks follow dozens of others directed at security targets in the US ally in recent months, killing hundreds.The army is conducting a big operation against Islamist militants in the southern provinces of Shabwa and Abyan.On the 3 May 14the army seized control of a militant bastion in the southern area of al-Mahfad, a stronghold for the Islamists, killing four of its defenders and injuring a number of others.Western countries fear further destabilisation in Yemen could give more space to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the local branch of the global Islamist militant movement, to plot attacks on international targets.Early on Saturday, a car bomb exploded outside an intelligence building in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout province in the southeast. Two soldiers and at least one passer-by were injured in the blast. On the 9 May 14 at least four Yemeni soldiers died in a gun battle with militants outside the presidential palace in the capital, Sanaa.The fire fight broke out when gunmen in a vehicle tried to attack a gate outside the palace. An explosion was also heard near a building used by the security services in the capital.Heavy gunfire resounded through Sanaa for about an hour as presidential security guards battled with militants.This attack will be al-Qaeda attempting to divert attention and the military away from the successful anti-terrorist operations that are currently ongoing in the country.Although, AQAP will no doubt take revenge later with concerted attacks against key locations and leaders once the military offensive has concluded.